Mackay stunned by decision

Mackay: Upset by dropped points

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Watford manager Malky Mackay was upset by the award of a late Coventry penalty as his side surrendered a two-goal lead to draw with the Sky Blues.

Will Buckley had put the Hornets ahead on the stroke of half-time and they doubled their advantage when John Eustace struck just before the hour mark.

However, David Bell fired home from 25 yards in the 88th minute to reduce the deficit and Lukas Jutkiewicz levelled from the spot two minutes later.

But Mackay could not believe the decision from replacement referee Matt Stewart, who ruled that Lloyd Doyley had fouled Richard Keogh in the box.

Stewart had replaced Trevor Kettle due to injury during the second half.

"I'm stunned at the refereeing decision for the penalty," said Mackay.

"I asked Trevor Kettle what level he'd [Stewart] refereed at and it's Conference level, so to come into a game today and have to referee at Championship level and give a decision like that, that obviously means I'm a bit upset.

"I've watched the DVD three or four times and there's no pull in there. There's an awful lot of bodies in that area and he sees someone diving thrown his hands up.

"Again, it's the old one where you can tell when somebody's falling, whether they're falling to break their fall or they've got two hands above their head and the boy had two hands above his head and, again, someone with more experience would have noticed that."

Overall though, Mackay was pleased with the performance of his team and reflected on the positives despite the late goals.

He commented: "I thought we started fantastically and kept it going. We dealt with Coventry's directness and went beyond that and our athleticism told in so many areas.

"The first half it was definitely coming and the save the boy [Michael Quirke] had from Marvin Sordell was outstanding.

"At half-time I knew that Coventry would be resilient and try and change things and I thought we dealt with that very well in the second half and obviously got our next goal.

"I was delighted with our performance and certain quarters of the media are writing us off as relegation fodder, so to go out there and give the two performances we have in the league I'm absolutely delighted at the young group I have in there."

Boothroyd reaction

Coventry manager Aidy Boothroyd praised his side's battling qualities after they rescued a point at his former club.

Boothroyd said: "I'm pleased for the fans because they feel like it's a win, and I'm pleased very, very much for me after the last couple of days.

"You lose your goalkeeper [Keiren Westwood] to a family bereavement, you bring one in [Iain Turner], he gets a concussion and I'm thinking 'whatever's next'?

"At one point I thought it was going to be 3-0 or 4-0, but we managed to get a foothold in the game, grind our way back in it and in the end we could have won it quite easily - Scott Loach has made a terrific save [from Michael Doyle] and that's what football's like. You've got to stay in it all the way through."

Commenting on the reception he received from the Watford fans, Boothroyd added: "It's lovely, it's very nice.

"This is like my first love I guess, you never forget it, and I had brilliant, brilliant times here and some not so good times but, all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time here, I was grateful for the opportunity and I'm pleased to be back.

"I'm glad I've been back now and it's done and now I want to create some new memories with Coventry City and we've got one today."